Tracy Dissinger has been practicing occupational therapy for 30 years. The last eight years have been in her own private clinic, Occupational Therapy of Delaware in Milford. 

OT Delaware offers therapy in the clinic, in schools and in homes to improve individuals’ cognitive, physical and sensory difficulties that affect their daily lives.

“I treat adults and children with intellectual impairments and/or physical disabilities,” Dissinger said. “And unlike physical therapy that gives people exercises and repetitions of things and strengthening, we work on things that are important for your daily life.”

Dissinger said the therapists primarily treat various upper extremity injuries, like shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand conditions. The team also works with patients with progressive diseases like Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis to modify living conditions for them as their functional abilities change so they can still be independent in their homes. 

“I ask my patients, ‘What is the most important thing for you?’” Dissinger said. “Some people say, ‘I just want to take a shower without somebody helping me.’ ‘I need to figure out how to manage my schedule and my money without having to ask my kids for help.’”

Dissinger primarily treats adults, while Ashley Holzinger and Elizabeth Tenbusch, the other two OTs, see many children and adolescents. They support students with autism, down syndrome and other impairments in their living and classroom environments. Kathleen Hartnett specializes in speech and language pathology. 

OT Delaware is also starting a vision therapy program after Holzinger became newly certified in vision therapy. For those who experienced a stroke or brain injury and lost parts of their vision, the program is meant to rehabilitate those conditions. 

Dissinger is also a certified driver rehabilitation evaluator. Doctors will refer patients with physical impairments or progressive diseases to Dissinger, and she can tell the doctor and the patient if the individual is safe to drive.

Dissinger is from Philadelphia and graduated from Thomas Jefferson University’s Occupational Therapy School. She was living in Reading, Pa., when she received a call from the then-Milford Hospital to fulfill the OT position in 1997, bringing her to Delaware. Dissinger worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs and several outpatient facilities before opening OT Delaware in 2016. 

Dissinger knew she wanted to be an OT since the third grade when therapists came into her elementary school and worked with the students. She thought the ladies seemed to have a fun time working with children. 

“I thought, ‘This is a great job,’” Dissinger said. “They get to play all day.”

In the clinic, there are various games, adaptive equipment and learning materials to help patients engage in school, work and social activities. The two black cats, Knox and Douglas, are also ambassadors of self-regulation. “The lads,” as the therapists call them, motivate patients to keep calm and control their movements.

“If your child or an intellectually impaired adult and you come in stomping, clapping, screaming, yelling, the cats are gone,” Dissinger said. “They want nothing to do with you. But if your hands are quiet, your feet are quiet, your volume is reasonable, they come in and they want your attention.”

OT Delaware is flexible in working with patients’ schedules. Contact 302-491-4813 to set an appointment. The clinic is located at 550 S. DuPont Blvd., Suite E, in Milford.